Thursday, May 14, 2009

May Flowers, Mitzi

May Flowers, occasional weeknights @ 11:00

One never thinks of flowers as being heavy. But imagine how much Hugo Weaving's "Mitzi" head dresses weighed in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.


Lipsynching is hard enough to do well and that's before adding several pounds of distraction atop your noggin. Ouch.

What happened to Hugo Weaving anyway? Is he hiding in Australia?

For a good long while between the sober elven council he kept and his multiplying Matrix villainry his face was hard to avoid at the franchise-happy multiplex. Now, Hollywood lets him talk (V in V For Vendetta, Megatron in Transformers) but his face is suddenly off limits.

Speaking of Megatron...

Last week at Star Trek they showed the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen trailer and my friend screamed with laughter when Shia LaBeouf recited with all seriousness...

Megatron wants what's in my mind!
I know movie stars get paid more money for short contract work than most of us can ever earn in our lifetime but sometimes I think they deserve it. Imagine having to shout such utter nonsense while leaping around in front of blank green screens for days on end. Imagine doing that and delivering it with any degree of disbelief suspended authenticity? It might be a fun job but I'm guessing it's not easy.
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7 comments:

Glenn said...

Hugo Weaving's best and most interesting work this decade and DEFINITELY been in his Australian work. Little Fish, After the Deluge (mini-series) and The Old Man Who Read Love Stories being my favourites. His next Aussie film is The Last Ride from Glendyn Iven who won the Palme d'Or for his short Crackerbag a few years ago. It's supposedly excellent.

Don't go near The Tender Hook if, in some bizarre twilight zone miracle, it gets a DVD release in the US. It's dreadful.

Wayne B. said...

"It might be a fun job but I'm guessing it's not easy."

For sure, had to do some drama stuff for a class I took and we had to do the whole "pretend we see something that isn't there"; acting without props. My mind went blank and I had no clue what to do next; face was so red! Gave me fresh respect for those who go audition/act every day.

NATHANIEL R said...

I remember really liking Proof back in the day (the day being after right after Russell Crowe got really famous in the late 90s and seeking out his earliest work)

Chris Na Taraja said...

Hugo is totally working it in Priscilla. Though I must point out that ever single movie musical is lipsyched, as well as every music video.

Marni Nixon did it backwards!

Glenn said...

Proof is indeed excellent. "I'M BLIND!" gets me every time. The Interview is perhaps his best work though. Catch it if you can. I'm surprised to hear Peaches is on DVD in America. I wasn't too keen on it - Weaving is creepy and not in a good way - but Emma Lung is excellent and I rightly predicted she'd be heading for bigger and better things (down here, anyway).

Anonymous said...

I love the scream that Shia gives in the trailer. It makes me laugh every time.

Unknown said...

Weaving is superb... he actually has been robbed of Awards attention too many times (he certainly deserved an Oscar for The Matrix, and at least a nom for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert), plus he's so cool that he was in both "Proof" and "Babe". You can have Crowe, I prefer Hugo, as actor. ;-) Crowe, for "other pleasures"... well.